


The Brightest Of Fireworks

by justlikedaylightsavingstime



Series: Supernatural Pairing Bingo [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Samuel feels a little guilty, and i put him back in heaven, but i still think he is one of the few characters who genuinely deserves to go to hell, fairly angsty, probably quite cheesy, trying to justify his thinking i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 18:14:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2591342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlikedaylightsavingstime/pseuds/justlikedaylightsavingstime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Samuel spends his last moments reminiscing about how he and Deanna first met. When he returns to heaven, she has something to show him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Brightest Of Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

> Title: The Brightest Of Fireworks  
> Pairing: Samuel Campbell/Deanna Campbell  
> Type: Romantic/Family  
> Rating: G/PG  
> Word Count: 2, 342  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any related character.  
> Summary: Samuel spends his last moments reminiscing about how he and Deanna first met. When he returns to heaven, she has something to show him.  
> Warnings: Probably a swearword or two. (Non-permanent) character death. Probably spoilers upto season 6.
> 
> As always feedback/criticism/comments/requests/prompts are extremely welcome.

Written for the [2014 spn pairing bingo](http://spnpairingbingo.livejournal.com/).  
You can also read this on my [LJ account](http://roastspud.livejournal.com/2712.html).

As he lay there incapacitated, the life sweeping from his body, Samuel found a sense of pride he’d not been able to muster up for decades. That was his blood, his legacy standing there, smoking gun in hand. Looked like Sam and Dean were stronger than he’d thought. And it was in that moment that he’d realised what he’d been doing, the pain he’d inflicted on Mary’s kids.

If he’d known they were capable of this, the past few months would probably have gone down very differently. They could have worked together. Yet he was a stubborn old man, he never would have accepted it. It took a rather vicious silver bullet to knock some sense into his ancient bones.

Samuel Campbell didn’t pray, not even after thirty odd years spent in heaven. But that didn’t stop him from begging to be returned to his wife, to be allowed to spend eternity in her arms. His mind quickly dropped his current predicament, completely dismissing any thought of his grandsons. His last few seconds only had time for one image, Deanna. Clutching her little scrunched up photo to his breast. Her pretty form against a backdrop of fireworks.

***

Samuel wasn’t that fussed by bonfire night. Sure fires and fireworks were pretty and all that, but he couldn’t really bring himself to truly appreciate them.

Maybe it was the life of a hunter, old reflexes jumping to alert every time he heard the sharp crack of a firework. Or maybe he was just fed up coming to them alone. As a rule he didn’t do company. It had been several months since he’d even seen any of his family. They held him back, slowed him down. A guy like him in his early twenties needed to show he could work alone.

Having said that, the merry voices and bright lights of the fire had drawn him in just this once. Enticing him to ditch his car by the side of the road. It just felt…warm. Of course that didn’t stop Samuel from being an interloper, relegated to the position of witness in the vibrant surroundings. Shut off from the comradery.  
Samuel sighed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to run around with a beer, teasing people he actually liked or trying to win the affections of a girl hopelessly out of his league. He’d knew what he’d lost, what he’ given up the moment he killed his first monster. And he’d learnt it again the moment he’d turned his back on his father and his brothers. Since he’d hit out on his own he had been on high alert, and that meant no alcohol, and no socialising either. All that was just a distraction.

He was a hunter beginning to end. Nothing more, nothing less. He was the reason these silly kids, were able to drink their beer and enjoy their drunken little trysts.

The crowd didn’t really hold more than a passing interest to him. Even as he sized each and every individual up in terms of their potential threat level he wasn’t really paying attention, it was all pretty standard. Not that he didn’t appreciate being able to uncurl his fingers in front of the blazing fire, momentarily loosing himself in the fizzling embers.

If anything the drunken revelry was an annoyance. A crowd of the merry makers were huddled up on the grass, eyes captivated by the bright flashes and harsh bangs exploding through the sky. They seemed to be having a ball of a time, laughing and chatting and singing. Except for one woman lost in the middle of the crowd.

That one girl was so beautiful, he couldn’t even think of the right word to describe her delicious strawberry hair. Something about the way she sat, with long legs stretched across her blanket, screamed strength and athleticism. Positioned as she was right in the middle of the throng, the actions of her comrades didn’t even seem to factor into her world. Tears streamed from her eyes and meandered their way down her cheeks as she stared unblinkingly up at the sky. Nobody else seemed to notice in the middle of their own desperate attention.

She made the most melancholic picture, so sad and yet so beautiful at the same time. It struck a chord in him. Unwillingly he found himself lost in a complex cocktail of emotions.

And so for the first time in forever, Samuel found himself approaching another human in a non-hunter related situation. He barely even felt the presence of the knife hidden in his shoe.

“Hey, are you okay?” His gruff voice cracked under the pressure of attempting to sound natural. As gently as he could Samuel held out one of his most treasured possessions, a clean scrap of linen with S.C. lovingly embroidered in the corner.

The strawberry blonde seemed to break out of her trance, scrubbing at her face before giving a self-deprecatory smile. “Yes, yes. I’m fine. Just being silly.”

A hit of panic swept down Samuel’s spine. What was he doing going over there, it must be the most ridiculous thing he’d ever done. This Madonna wasn’t going to want his uncouth attempt at comfort and consolation. She was probably just having a moment, one which everyone had realised was not meant to be interrupted.

She sniffled and Samuel forgot his worry. He insistently held out the handkerchief until she accepted it. Another smile graced her lips as she dabbed slightly more delicately at her eyes.

She smiled up at him, looking so much better shrouded in happiness. Close up her beauty was so breath-taking that Samuel’s brain didn’t have a hope of processing her next words until he felt himself being tugged down to the ground amidst an exclamation of “I said, why don’t you sit with me for a while”.

Awkwardly Samuel positioned himself in a pile next to her, unable to summon the right words today. He could feel her sizing him up, thankful when she gave him a warm smile and extended her hand as opposed to finding some way to dismiss this new inferior acquaintance. “I’m Deanna, nice to meet you.”

Her voice sounded like fairy bells, enchanting and dangerous at the same time. Somehow Samuel just about managed to cough out his own name before relapsing back into silence. Cursing himself, he felt his bushy eyebrows drawing down into a thin line, unable to stop himself from crossing his arms and glaring up at the sky.

Any second now Deanna was going to notice his surliness and make up some speedy excuse to find someone nice and amenable to spend time with. Someone who had more to offer than a glare. This was why Samuel didn’t do distractions.

Hazel eyes fixed on him, as if questioning his entire demeanour. She was unapologetic in her appraisal, and he found himself under scrutiny for what must have been two or three minutes. Eventually he saw Deanna give a little nod from the corner of his eye, and a small but confident smile settled on her face.

They sat there, eyes fixed on the sky, Samuel self-consciously hanging on to every word that left her lips. “I wasn’t crying over anything in particular. Fireworks just bring out the…sentimentality... in me. It’s something primal, kinda nostalgic.

“It’s on nights like this when you realise nothing will ever be the same, that no other night in the future will have the exact same feel as this one. It’s a bit ridiculous, I know. But I was just thinking about every other firework display I’d ever been to. Who I was with, where I was in my head at the time and how I was feeling. It’s like a snapshot of my life. It just draws something indescribable out of me, you know what I mean?”

The way Samuel’s eyes fixed on hers seemed to give her the affirmation she needed to keep talking. “Take now for example, I will never be at another firework display quite like this one. With a dashing young stranger crouched in the dirt next to me, surrounded by other people. By next year everything will have changed. I have no idea who I’ll be with. And it’s scary and it’s sad and I just…I’m sorry, I’m prattling.”

She gave another one of her captivating smiles, not seeming worried that she might have embarrassed herself. That brash confidence was refreshing. Samuel never had any time for people who liked to hide the truth between masks or pleasantries.

Something in her words resonated within him. Took him back to his own memories fireworks. There was only one night he could think of. The one where his entire family had gathered around the bonfire and his big brother had almost blown his arm off trying to light the fireworks. Little bursts of memory fluttered into his head. The way his mother had clutched him to her apron as he’d cowered under the loud bangs. The way his father’s hand felt brushing over his hair in an affectionate gesture.

Samuel soon found his own eyes tearing up. All the little thoughts that he’d been blocking out, all the traitorous voices and repressed fears. It just tumbled out. Unfortunately he was a much less dainty crier than Deanna, his version complete with sobs and a snotty nose.

Throughout his musings he kept his eyes fixed on the fireworks above him. Noticed how each little part illuminated the dark sky a little bit more. His eyes followed the trail as individual embers blew up in a magnificent flash before fizzling out into and floating down to the muddy ground, pathetic and lifeless. And yet the way the fire danced in the sky against the backdrop of the smoky residue was nothing short of magical.

He was pulled from out of his own head by a delicate brush of a hand against his shoulder, quickly bringing him back to reality. Pulled back by the realisation that this was not the time or place for a moment of weakness. He was a hunter goddamnit. He quickly scraped the tears from his face, cursing himself and increasing his glare at Deanna as she wordlessly handed him back his handkerchief. She seemed to respect the glare for the thank you that it was as she leaned closer into him, whispering, “Fireworks are brightest when seen through tears.”

***

Within a year the pair of them had been married. Building an unconventional but functional life together, their daughter the light of their world. Even when they’d been snatched from this world by the yellow eyed bastard they’d still clung to one another in the afterlife.

As Samuel drew his last shaky breath, he kept his focus on the crumpled photograph. He squinted down, the blurriness from his eyes a testament to the drips that landed on the shiny sheen of the photo, running down in little rivulets, transforming and twisting around the distorted image. Picking out the little details, the bright little orbs that represented each little flash of the fireworks behind the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.

***

He almost jumped for joy when his eyes opened upon that smile. The one smile that he knew like the back of his hand and yet still had the power to hold him breathless.

It didn’t matter that the smile lasted for only a few seconds before it was replaced by an accusatory frown. He knew she’d witnessed every moment of his time on earth. And she was not happy. There was plenty of time for Deanna to berate him later when he could try, and fail, to explain himself.

All that mattered right now was that he was back in their heaven, where it was still Deanna-and-Samuel forever. Back to a dynamic that wasn’t dictated by children, or hunting, or necessity.

He quickly gathered her into his arms, pulling her close and peppering her with kisses. She returned them, still not saying anything. She took his hand to pull them away from the private little heaven they’d carved for themselves. Eventually they arrived at a mysterious dark little spot.

“What’s this?” He croaked, only to be greeted by Deanna placing a finger over her mouth.

This little heaven was unusual, pretty much pitch black, until a loud explosion burst through the air, dragging up wondrous swirls and flashes of colour. Fireworks . His hand quickly reached out for Deanna’s, the action showing what even in the safety of heaven he would never be able to say eloquently enough in words. She nudged him, pointing towards the origin of the sparks. His eyes struggled to make out the detail, but he realised soon enough that he recognised that silhouette with the leather jacket, and the bowed legs. And who couldn’t identify the mop of hair belonging to to the boy clasped in Dean’s arms.

“Are they…are…” Samuel’s voice cracked. Deanna’s succinct nod was enough of a confirmation.

“This is the memory of Dean’s heaven, the echo from when he was up here. I know what happened when you were on earth. And I think you know my opinion. But I’m not going to say anything. I thought this might make more of a difference to your thick skull than I ever could. Just don’t you dare ever do anything to hurt my family again, Samuel Campbell!”

Dismay swept over Samuel as he saw the tears pooling in Deanna’s eyes. He pulled her close, pressing kisses and apologies into the crown of her head.

After a while, a soft hand reached up, brushing his own tears from his cheek with a tender stroke. They stood for hours in that dark little field, soaking up the fireworks. Each of them lost in their own heads despite how closely their hands were clasped.

Sure fireworks were brightest when seen through tears, but Samuel thanked his stars that he had someone to help him grow, someone who would chase those tears away when he was finished.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to follow me, my tumblr is http://justlikedaylightsavingstime.tumblr.com


End file.
